Final Despair Project
by Jelly Rice Doughnuts
Summary: Thanks to Naegi and the Future Foundation, hope has been restored the world. Everyone has long since forgotten the School Life of Mutual Killing, everyone but one person: the last Super High School Level Despair member. Now taking teens from across the world back into this gruesome game, one large question is raised: who will survive? SYOC Closed.
1. List of Characters and a Vote

**Hello! As you can see, all OCs needed for this SYOC have been accepted, so now I will get started with the story itself. Expect it in a week or so, but first, here's the list of OCs! (In no particular order.)**

**Super High School Level Violinist**

**Super High School Level Blogger**

******Super High School Level Historical Re-enactor**

**Super High School Level Businesswoman**

**Super High School Level Maid**

**Super High School Level Skydiver**

**Super High School Level Writer**

**Super High School Level Football Quarterback**

**Super High School Level Psychic**

**Super High School Level Magician**

**Super High School Level Illusionist**

**Super High School Level DJ**

**Super High School Level Contortionist**

**Super High School Level Matchmaker**

**Super High School Level Knight**

**Super High School Level Baker**

**Number of OCs accepted: 16**

**Oh! And one last thing! I will be alternating point of views every chapter, but to assure that there is no favoritism (Don't worry, it won't reveal the mastermind either), you guys get to vote who gets the next point of view! The vote can be found on my profile page as a poll, and please contribute soon! I plan to start writing in a day or two to give the poll time! **


	2. Countless Faces by Naoki Fusao

_The enormous academy towered over the city's central, upper-class residential district. It was like… the whole world revolved around that place…_

I couldn't stop myself from thinking that well-known thought, famous for it's rumor of having been thought by the headmaster himself. As I looked up at the skyscraping school, my thoughts continued to wander. The very idea of my class here being the 98th… It's unthought-of. Not a single soul expected the school to rise from its blood-red ashes and host another twenty classes.

I could've stood there all day, thinking of Hope's Peak and how I, and many others, was going to move in today, classes starting tomorrow. Anyone could've thought that all day, I'm sure. The world's best school that accepts only Japan's best students, an achievement all success-seeking children dream of. But a person cannot simply stand outside a school forever and attend it. Picking my bags up and taking a deep breath, I stepped forward.

In the present, I'm thinking still, wondering of how I even got from stepping through the gate to an empty desk in an empty room that held a feeling emptier than it was. Iron plates guard the windows and a camera is hung, pointed towards me. Slowly, I stand up, creeping over to the door. Unsure of my surroundings, I guide the door open gently.

I then find myself in a hallway, which doesn't help me much, considering the lack of directions. Sighing, I take this upon myself, treating it as a way to explore and get to know the school.

The hallways are just as vacant as the classroom, not a single soul being present, a vague taste of despair takes control of the halls. Locked doors galore and ominous signs pointing, confusingly, to several directions are the only things I can really find. The only place to look for people here that seemed logical was the dorms… Or apparently "Hotel Despair," the doors covered with plates, each one holding a name and 8-bit character of it's own. I pay less attention to the characters than I do the names. Irie, Larsen, Kryly, Shizuri, Ridgley are only a few of the fifteen names listed besides my own. Doorbells are beside each door, and after ringing a good half of them, I give up and return in the direction of my starting point.

Just as I finally pass back by the classrooms and into the hallway lit with green lights, I begin to hear echoes of chatter. After spending what felt like an hour in this labyrinth of solitude, I run after the echoes, only slowing down to carefully place my hands on the door, unsure whether or not I should go in. It takes a moment to decide. Sliding them down to the handle, I think, "This is the room. The room where the others are." The door slides open gracefully, revealing nine people, standing there, not even taking note that another being has just walked in. My eyes work their way above their heads, when I see it. A giant door, not just any giant door, the giant metal door iconic for it's history of being the saving and undoing of the 78th class of Hope's Peak. It's unspoken of; we're only forced to learn about it in history class, though it's obvious the teachers would've wanted to teach something else. We only spend a short fifteen minutes on the subject, simply going over the setting; iron plates, cameras, a giant metal door blocking our escape, and most importantly, a fight to the death.

When I look back at the teenagers standing in the room, it couldn't be any more noticeable they had already figured that out. They stared at the door as if it were their executioner.

I realize I'm still holding the door and I let go of it. It makes a slam when it goes back to its closed position, causing the group to turn around.

"Yet another one… Why don't we all introduce ourselves? I'm sure this wanderer would enjoy it very much." The person who speaks up is a girl, dressed daintily in an elegant Lolita-like short blue dress, orientated with pink roses. Her black hair is tied in messy side buns, bangs ending right above her pink eyes. "I'll begin," she continues as she walks towards me, and bows. "I am Kaori Shizuri, Super High School Level Historical Re-Enactor. I'm sure you and I will become excellent friends!" Shizuri smiles, a cue for me to speak.

"Naoki Fusao, Super High School Level Psychic," I rush through my words, still taking everything in.

"Such a wonderful title," she says as another comes up to me, this one wearing a short red qipao and white stockings. Her hair is blond and quite long. Her figure is quite feminine and has a noticeably large chest. As this girl begins to speak, I see Kaori retreat back into the crowd, and begins to speak with someone else, most likely about our situation.

"My name is Chouko Irie," just as I hear her name, I recognize her immediately, she's quite famous for her blog, perhaps the most popular blog in the world, talking about her constant travels around the world. "I'm the Super High School Blogger," she continues. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Fusao. I would love to talk, but there are countless people you must meet," Irie says as she guides me towards the crowd, taking me away from my isolated spot. With a smile, she speaks. "Go ahead, don't be shy, talk to whomever you wish!"

A little uncertain, I approach a boy, his hair blond with the tips dyed blue, reaching his chin. Another feature I notice immediately is the silver stud above his right eyebrow. His outfit is quite interesting, I find myself staring at it for a moment or two. He wears a blue ski jacket with fur trim on the hood and black jeans, with ripped holes at the knees. He shows no interest in me, so I am forced to begin this introduction.

"My name is Naoki Fusao, I am the Super High School Level Psychic, and you'd be?" He observes me for a moment before speaking.

"Isamu Nagase. DJ." Nagase ends there, seeming to be holding back. I take it as a blessing as I step away, and turn to girl, around the same height as Nagase, towering over me by at least six inches.

"Ah! M-my name is Natalya… Natalya Kryly! Uh… Su-Super High School L-level Skydiver. You call me Natasha, yes?" Her speech is not broken from shyness or nervousness, but rather unfamiliarity with the Japanese language. She seems to be awfully fond of hearts with her blond side ponytail decorated with several heart-shaped pins. Over her white blouse, she wears a yellow sweater vest and a red tie, matching her red skirt.

"Nice to meet you, Natasha," I say. "I'm Naoki Fusao, Super High School Level Psychic." Natasha smiles in response, just as I'm whisked away by a tug and a hair ruffle, much to my dislike. A roaring laughter fills the room, covering the others' conversations. I struggle to turn in the grasp of this person. When I am able to turn, I first analyze his neck-long black hair and purple eyes. His attire is quite boring compared to many of the others with his white dress shirt and black dress pants.

"Ichirou Nakahara! Nice ta meet ya! I'm the baker!" He has a goofy smile filled with excitement. He continues to ruffle my hair, treating me like his little brother and continues to speak. "Aw man! Can you believe all the famous people here? First there's Irie and Hanaba and Kryly! But then there's also you! Wow! I can't believe all of this!... But then again we're all famous now, right?... In fact that's how I know half these people…" His laugh comes back again as he lets me out of his grasp. He spins me around and pushes me towards Shizuri and the girl she's talking to, causing me to topple over onto them. Shizuri lifts me up carefully and brushes me off as if I gathered dirt while I was on the ground. Behind me, I hear Nakahara burst with laughter yet again and yell "Sorry!"

"Ah, the relationship of men, something a woman can never experience," Shizuri says longingly. My eyes drift over to the girl Shizuri was speaking to, her green eyes glued on me. When I look at her, I see a lot of black. Black hair, black blouse, black skirt, and black shoes. Though her appearance does hold some color with blond stripes in her hair and scarlet X patterns on her skirt. On her blouse, "Aika" is written on the chest. When she steps forward to speak to me, I notice the soapy aroma coming from her.

"I'm Aika Suji, Super High School Level Violinist," she says. "Feel free to just call me Aika! No surname necessary! I hear you're the Super High School Level Psychic! Does that mean you can read my mind?" She speaks in a very clear and friendly voice, showing her personality off just like everyone else.

"No, I can't read minds… But I receive visions of the future… A person's success, love-life, children, that kind of stuff."

"That's amazing! Did you have to train or something or was it just natural?"

"No… It's natural…"

"Oh! Is that personal? I'm sorry," she, like many others, offers a smile. If we have been captured for yet another Life of Mutual Killing, it's going to be a long life. I can't see most of these people killing each other.

"It's fine," I answer in politeness, causing Aika to smile bigger.

"Excuse me, but perhaps you should meet the others. Who knows how much time we'll have together that's this peaceful," Shizuri states. "After all, if this is what we all dread it to be, there might be less time than we think."

"Of course," I say, scanning the group for someone I haven't met yet. I then finally see a person I haven't spoken to yet. As I approach her, I notice she too is much taller than me and that she has green hair, reaching her mid-back. The girl is dressed in a yellow dress shirt with a black vest on top with blue shorts and dress shoes matching her vest. She seems a bit nervous, keeping an eye on the door I entered from. It takes her a moment to notice that I've walked up to her, and when she does, she perks up.

"I'm Jui Hanaba! Super High School Level Magician!" She offers a hand to shake, to which I accept.

"I'm Naoki Fusao, Super High School Level Psychic."

"So I've heard! I wonder if they'll be time to show off our talents to each other… That would be fun with all these talents we have!"

"It would, I guess," I reply. I'm then tapped on the shoulder and quickly turn to find a boy with brown hair, spikes and red highlights poking out the bottom of the gray baseball cap he wears. He wears a red button up shirt and black pants and sneakers that have both red and black.

"I believe I am the only person you haven't met quite yet," the boy says. "My title is Super High School Level Knight, and my name is Manuel Blackburn."

"Naoki Fusao, Super High School Level Psychic," I say, rushing through my words, eager to get this over with.

"Lots of introductions, eh? Too many for you?"

"I was going to meet everyone no matter what, might as well get it done in one shot."

"That's some good optimism you've got there."

After the introductions, Manuel brought us into a new subject. We began to discuss what our situation even is.

"Perhaps it's some sort of memorial!" Nakahara exclaims.

"Let's face it, the door, the windows, the cameras, we have been trapped in the 78th class's world full of murder," Manuel says

"Maybe they never took the door down. The plates would be easy to put up within a few days," Nakahara continues.

"Nakahara, I'm pretty sure they wouldn't go as far as this for a memorial. Why would they even have one now?" Aika says gently.

"Well, if you add the years it took to bring hope back to the world and the twenty years between the 78th and 98th classes, you get twenty-five. A quarter of a century! That's when lots of companies have big anniversaries, so maybe they're having like a twenty-five year memorial for their friends. Who says this here door needs to mean death and despair?" He sings out his words, his smile from earlier still hasn't diminished.

"That's idiotic! How do you even come up with such bulls***?" Nagase spits out at Nakahara

"Awww? Is somebody being a grumpy-grump? The headmaster… Err headmasters are Naegi Makoto and Kyouko Kirigiri, right? Why wouldn't they have a little remembrance for the fall of the world and their friends?" Just as Nagase was about to say something, Shizuri interrupted.

"Both Nakahara and Nagase have a point… It could be either, we just don't know until we receive a message of sorts…"

"There's only ten of us… Would that really be sufficient for a game of murder?" Aika says.

"It does seem a little too small…" Irie remarks, agreeing with Aika.

"Is this really everyone?" I ask, causing several heads to turn towards me in confusion. "Maybe the others are somewhere else, maybe they're having their own meeting right now, wondering the same things as us." A moment of silence took over, the others contemplating my point.

"They could be somewhere else!" Hanaba says, excited at the thought.

"S-so where do w-we look for the o-others?" Natasha asks, turning to me.

"Anywhere, I guess."

"So shall we head out?" Shizuri says, standing up. She is then followed in the motion by Aika and Nakahara. They begin to walk towards the door, causing Natasha and Hanaba to panic, both then jump up and rush to them. Next to rise is Manuel, who is then followed by Irie, leaving me on the ground with Nagase. He takes a moment to watch the others leave, then follows suit.

"This is going to get annoying quickly, isn't it?" He stated blandly, halfway out the door.

It takes me a moment to realize I'm the last one and rise slowly and make my way out, only to find our little group barely ten feet away from the door. A good half of them are investigating the poorly drawn signs posted on the walls, taking the appearance of a child's drawings.

"We'll never get anywhere with these drawings…" Aika whispers, disappointed.

"The school isn't too big, I'm sure we could find them within an hour or so if we search carefully," Irie says, trying to cheer Aika up.

"How stupid are all of you? You didn't think to even investigate the damn prison you're trapped in?" Nagase says, receiving several shakes of the head in response.

"I-I was m-more concerned in find-ding p-people than-n s-surroundings…" Natasha said, under her breath.

"What's the point of learning your surroundings if the people you're trapped with could change them at any moment," Manuel stated.

"What do you mean by that?" Shizuri asked, tilting her head.

"What would I mean? For all I know, you might decided to rearrange a room I've been, just to throw me off. Wouldn't it be best to get acquainted with my fellow prisoners to learn who they are? That way it would be simple to know who to keep an eye on."

"You can 'logic' through this all you want. Either way, you dumbasses don't have a way of justifying your stupidity," Nagase says. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you: The first murdered! I can't resist the thought as Nagase gives a harsh you're-all-dumbasses-and-you're-all-below-me glare to several select students.

"This isn't the time to fight. Nagase, would you please tell us what the problem is exactly?" I say, trying to break any heated argument about to come up.

"There are shutters in front of all the stairs. We're trapped on the first floor," he says, far more gentler than when he was insulting us.

"Thank you," I state automatically.

"Well, this'll make it much easier to find the people!" Hanaba says enthusiastically.

"Unless they happen to have ended up on the second floor... Or perhaps the third..." Manuel says, causing a large drop in enthusiasm and several sighs of disappointment.

"Let's begin searching for them, then make conclusions," Shizuri suggests.

* * *

We didn't dare split up, being stuck in this famously lethal setting with strangers tends to make some people paranoid. It was no little than our group of ten, exploring the school in search of the missing students. Many of the locked doors raised some people's suspicions, refusing to dismiss it immediately. A few of the locked doors included the AV room, the infirmary, and strangest of all, the gymnasium. It took quite awhile to move on and head to the dormitories, where they went over the same process as me, even after I warned them I had already rung every doorbell. Finally, after what seemed like forever, we began to head back, we saw a boy, his head poking out of the cafeteria. The moment he notices us, he steps out entirely and motions for us to come.

"It was getting a little boring," he says. "You guys are lucky, you got a fuller, more complete group of people."

"How many others are with you?" Irie says, excitement in her voice.

"Six," he claims while turning back to the cafeteria. We follow him as we go in, and it is admittedly smaller, and because of that, quieter. The group abandons their table to come to talk to us, and our group quickly dismantles and heads towards the new faces, with the exception of Hanaba, who runs towards one of the girls, no doubt, she had met her before.

As for me, it doesn't take to long for me to come face to face to a blonde haired girl, a cold look in her hazel eyes. Before she begins to speak, I can guess what her Super High School Level title is, just by her gray pencil skirt and matching gray jacket-top, highly resembling a business suit. She stands a little tall, but I assume that to be because of the red heels she wears.

"The name is Rin Larsen, Super High School Level Businesswoman. You would be?" There's a touch of snobbishness in her speech, but I disregard it immediately to introduce myself yet again.

"Naoki Fusao, Super High School Level Psychic. It's nice to meet you," she nods, then walks off to meet Irie. It takes a minute or two for another girl to come up and meet me, yet again, and easy guess. Though her tied back brown hair and shining sapphire blue eyes don't give away much, it only takes the eyes a few centimeters down to see her lolita maid outfit with stockings to know what she is going to say.

"Hello! It's wonderful to meet yet another person! My name is Kirei Nagai. My title is Super high School Level Maid," she says with a smile. The amount of smiley people is a little strange, especially for our situation. Admittedly, I was hoping to see a few more stern and serious people with this group, besides the one I have already met, to even out the personalities a bit. Though I know I shouldn't lose hope, or that I should be judging these people based on their cheerful personalities, in fact it may even be great living here, seeing as how all these people can maintain their cheerfulness.

As I continue to lose myself in my thoughts, I don't even notice when the boy who greeted us at the door is standing right in front of me, seeking my introduction. His medium-length black hair, despite it's messiness, is probably his best physical quality. It would seem he isn't one to care about looks too much. Considering his black tee underneath his blue and gray jacket-hoodie and black pants, dark colors seem to be his favorites. The only thing to ruin the dark colors coming from him are his white sneakers, the color not browned from dirt and other street debris. I then realize I have caused an awkward silence, and immediately break from my observations to speak.

"Naoki Fusao, Super High School Level Psychic, it's a pleasure to meet you."

"It would have been far more interesting if you were to have said that five minutes ago," the boy says as he walks away. Baffled, I watch him as he walks away, though not for too long, as I am soon greeted by a small girl, whose body is kept well, her tied-back golden hair shining beautifully, even without the sun's light.

"Oh, Rimushita…" She says, facing the boy. Turning to me, she continues. "That was Neisan Rimushita… The Super High School Level Writer... We've all discovered he can be a bit rude, though we aren't sure why. But I for one, am absolutely certain it's only because of stress!" Her face shines with joy. "I'm Suchiri Shimizu, Super High School Level Contortionist," she does a quick bow, then continues to talk. "I do hope you like me… But there are a few others you haven't met yet, correct? You should meet them, Naoki," it doesn't take two seconds for her to wave over Hanaba and another girl over. When they get next to me I realize that the girl bears the same face as Hanaba, even the same clothing, only with minor color differences such as the vest and shoes being white. Luckily, I'll be able to tell them apart from not only that, but their hair. Exactly the same cut, only green for Hanaba and blue for the girl.

"Presto! I cloned myself!" Hanaba laughs. "Just kidding! This is my twin, Furi Hanaba! Super High School Level Illusionist!" _Two Hanabas?_ I think as I automatically make the adjustment in my head to call Jui and Furi by their first names.

"... You are the psychic, correct?" Furi asks with no emotion, causing me to take a moment to realize she asked me a question, not that she made a statement.

"Yes! Of course!" Just being in the presence of Jui's energy causes me to perk up some too.

"What an excellent talent… Perhaps we can all teach each other the ways of our own," Furi states blandly.

"Oh! That's right! All three of our talents are pretty close, right?" Jui says, sing-songily.

"Yeah," I reply. Just as I start to sneak away to meet the next person, Jui says something to Furi that catches my ear.

"Hey sis, you don't think mom's first day was like this do you? You know, it being all empty and stuff."

I don't dare speak up, it would be rude to interrupt their conversation without having an invitation.

"Sis, don't you remember? For the past week she's been calling us and telling us about her first week. She said she was greeted at the door by teachers and the headmaster. Not only that, but they were booming with excitement. I for one would expect twice that excitement this year, especially with them introducing the international class…"

_Then this could be..._

"Heheh!... I always miss mom when she travels…" I hear Jui says as I finally slip away.

"Woah, sneaking away from the ladies? Sheesh, that's low," A voice from beside me says.

"It's not… I was… They were talking, I was giving them privacy," I say defensively as I turn to the voice. I find tall, muscular brown-haired boy, wearing yellow jacket atop a blue vest, patterned with gray. I feel a heaving sense of intimidation as I look up to him.

"Privacy? You won't find that here! We're living in this school for the whole school year. We all may as well be room mates."

"Of course," I say, slowly regaining my confidence.

"Patrick Ridgley, Super High School Level Football Quarterback. Don't forget it."

"I won't. I'm Naoki Fusao, Super High School Level Psychic," just as I say it, I slip and fall, and hear a quick laugh from Patrick, but then am pulled up by someone else. The one person I haven't met. I turn to see him, finding only a man of gray. Very little of his brown hair pokes out of the hood of his gray hoodie, the gray matching his gloves and jeans.

"I'm Hikaru Hayazaki, you're Fusao, Super High School Level Psychic, aren't you?"

"I am, you Super High School Level is?"

"Matchmaker," Hayazaki says. For such an abstract talent, he seems fairly normal. I would have imagined someone far more nosy to make his matches, though it crosses my mind he may just be holding back for first impressions.

Just as I open my mouth to say something more, the sole monitor in the room flashes to life, the screen lit dimly, with a bear's silhouette on the screen. A silent, but ominous "Upupupupu" can be heard, putting us all under a spell of fear.

* * *

**Ahaha, there's the first chapter.**

**I'll let you guys vote in the comments for right now (Don't have time to make a poll, I'm just about to run off for tonight's performance at my school for the play. Closing night! My schedule is going to clear up after tomorrow!)**

**Who do you like? What do you think? Are the characters good? Please tell me by reviewing!**


	3. Gathering Around by Neisan Rimushita

_Things are getting interesting… But in every wrong way._

I can tell we all recognize that silhouette, it's none other than the silhouette of the bear that took the lives of eight innocent students. His demonic giggle seems to strike fear down our spines like lightning.

For a moment, the screen stays on him but then it slowly zooms out to reveal it standing in there with someone tied up and screaming for help. With a quick analysis of the man, I finger the figure out. It's none other than one of Hope's Peak's two headmasters, Makoto Naegi, blindfolded. Suddenly a spotlight falls onto the bear, showing his body, divided into two monochromatic parts.

"Upupupu! Let's get this opening ceremony to a start! But what's an opening ceremony without a bang? Get ready, 'cause this is gonna be the biggest bang of your life!" The bear pulls out a red button from behind him and carelessly pushes down, a rocket emerging from nowhere only to engulf our doomed headmaster.

"I-I've heard of this," Shizuri pushes through her teeth.  
"... The Space Journey," Natasha makes no slips in her words as she stares at the screen in despair.

"Impossible," I grunt under my breath.

It only takes seconds for the rocket to shoot up, when we suddenly lose transition. We can still hear the rocket breaking through the ceiling, ever so slowly. I try to locate where the sound is coming from exactly, but it's not fast enough for the transmission to come back on. This time, the camera is on the roof, and it flashes on in time for us to see the rocket continue it's ascent to death. Unlike seconds ago, the camera doesn't cut off when the rocket gets out of range, it simply rotates up towards the sky. Twenty seconds pass, and the rocket comes back down, too fast for the camera to catch even three seconds. The screen cuts back to the first camera, just in time to watch the crash. But there isn't a need for that, the camera loses visual the moment the rocket touches the ground, but we can still hear and feel the crash as it's shakes the ground below our feet.

"I get a feeling this won't be an ordinary school life," Manuel states, voice entirely neutral.

Just when we think it's over, the screen comes back to life, the bear appears on the screen again.

"Mic test! Mic test!" Realizing the mic works, he cleared his throat. "All students are to report to the gymnasium for opening ceremonies! All students are to report to the gymnasium for opening ceremonies!" And with that, the monitor turns off.

"He... He expects us to just go there? Is he kidding? It's obviously a death trap!" Aika shouts.  
"This whole school is a death trap, shithead," Nagase spits out.  
"Well, of course. But this just seems like the wrong move to survive," Aika says, matter-of-factly.  
"I believe this to be our only move," I say, pulling the eyes to my face.  
"I stand with Rimushita," Shizuri states as she walks out of the cafeteria.  
"Well then, let's get going," Manuel sighs, as he follows Shizuri out.  
"Yeah! Let's get to the bottom of this!" Jui begins to exit as Furi rushes behind her and grabs her arm.  
"Oh! Great, we're going!" Nakahara exclaims as he runs out the room. He is then followed by Patrick, who mutters something about how stupid it is that he had to get caught up in this. _Yeah, welcome to the club._

Basically, people continue to make their exits one by one, and I find myself _very_ bored. They all follow suit of making exit words, up until I am left in the room with Aika, Fusao, Nagase, Shimizu, Natasha and Larsen.

"Well you're quite annoying aren't you?" Nagase says, words directed towards me.  
"What?" "You don't even follow through with your own words." "I wasn't expecting them to just walk out of the room, though I must admit, it was quite interesting."  
"Oh? So you just let those people walk to what could've been their deaths?" Larsen remarks.  
"It was their choice, and never my suggestion to walk out this second."  
"Please, don't fight, we need to get along!" Shimizu interrupts what could've become a heated argument, which brings me some joy, seeing as it would be both Nagase and Larsen. I decide to keep my eye on them, then walk to the door.  
"So, is anyone else going to follow my 'orders?' Or will it be just me?"  
"Uh… I-I too-o will-l come, yes," Natasha rushes to my side.  
"We cannot just leave those people on their own… They may have numbers, but I too want to witness this with my own eyes," Fusao joins us.  
"You can count me in!" Aika says cheerfully once she is standing next to me. On my way at the door, I take a quick glance towards Nagase and Larsen, who look annoyed. As the others follow me out, Shimizu runs to us and I take a moment to remind myself: I cannot place my trust in Larsen or Nagase, nor should I trust anyone here yet.

* * *

As I walk through the gym doors, I'll admit I'm surprise to not find myself jumped upon and tied up, using the the same method every other kidnapper uses. But as I my eyes reach the podium, I'm reminded that this isn't any normal kidnapping. The monochromatic bear is already standing there, his half evil smile greeting us with fear and open despair. As the door shut behind him, the mics came to life, blasting the bear's voice across the room, the slightest bit too loud.

"OoooOOOoo. I see you all have finally arrived. I assume that means you bastards have all become nice and acquainted? Good, good... Well then, I shall waste no time in stating what needs to be stated: Welcome to your communal despair life! With no time limit!"

Several gasp are thrown about us, a few whimpers and a quiet scream. Disregarding the audience's reaction, the bear continues.

"Seeing as your trying to let that sink in, I believe you all should learn that I am the notorious Monokuma. And I sure you understand what will be coming next... As your headmaster, though, it is my duty to hand you your ElectroiDs. Now you bastards better not lose these, they're expensive! Not only that, but it's the only way to enter certain rooms, one of which including your dorm rooms!" Monokuma throws the ElectroiDs off the stage, each individual one landing in a randomized spot. "Nice and sturdy, too. Absolutely nothing can break them!"

"Wait... How can that be true?" Manuel's voice pops out from the silenced crowd, followed by him stepping out.  
"Hnnn? What possibly could you mean by that?"  
"In the textbooks, the short few pages about the terrible killings... Not only that, but personal reports from graduates," he pauses. "Legit graduates, all claimed that the rooms were opened with a key... And that the ElectroiDs can be broken with heat."  
"I'm offended! You'd think twenty five years would pass by, and I wouldn't make sure that a single improvement would be made for my plan to role out? Do you take your headmaster for an idiot?"  
"You aren't even our headmaster! Headmaster Kirigiri is still alive and well, for what we know. And we can rely on that, seeing as you're the showcase-type."  
"Upupupu, we've got a smart one over here! If I were among you students, I'd watch out for Manuel! He'd make an excellent villain!"  
"So... T-This m-means..." Natasha only began to form her sentence when she was interrupted.  
"You better believe it! Welcome to Life of Mutual Killings numero 3! You'll find a complete list of rules for this wonderful, despair-inducing killing spree in your IDs! I don't have time to go over that! In fact, it's about now I should be taking my leave!"  
"Now you wait a minute," Shizuri interrupted Monokuma as he was about to just back into his escape route of a podium. "You expect us to kill each other? How dumb do you think we are? We've heard the stories. You could've very well erased our memories." Nagai rushes out to Shizuri and grabs her arm.  
"Shizuri, please don't hurt yourself, this is dangerous."  
"You think I don't know that, Lolita-Bitch?" She says, turning to Nagai. A silent sobbing whimper is let out as Nagai lets go of Shizuri's arm. As Shizuri turns back to Monokuma, Nagai disappears back into the crowd to be comforted by a playful Jui and a... Well... Silent Furi. As I observe these events, I can only think about how interesting this will become. I gain a whole new boost of motivation to live to the end, just to see how this plays out and tell the world in one of my books.  
"With dumb mistakes like these, we'd be slashin' at ghosts to think like that," Shizuri's sudden burst from proper to improper as shocked our little class of students. They all just sand back, watching the horror as it folds out.  
"My, my. Are you defying me? Are you saying you'd dare go against me? My, my! If that's so, you should bow down to me now, seeing as you won't get the chance to do so alive if you go against me!" A few screams are thrown out, some just plain old screams, others of Shizuri's name. It only takes a few seconds, before she starts to shake and backs down. A few people rush to her, the small group consisting of Shimizu, Fusao, Hayazaki, Natasha, and surprisingly, Nagai pull her into the crowd, protecting her from Monokuma.  
"Ahhh? Don't have the courage? I thought so. Though I do believe I told you to bow." A harsh stare from everyone, including me, causing Monokuma to begins to retreat. "Such rebellion! Such moxy! This will certainly be one interesting class! Seeing as this is the first day, I'll let you off the hook. Though don't be surprised if you find yourself receiving a pink detention slip sometime soon," and with that, the bear disappears entirely into his podium, not to return again until who-knows-when.

"Now what?" Patrick asks, an annoyed tone in his voice.  
"What do you think? We read the rules," I suggest matter-of-factly, pulling out my ElectroiD.  
"Another genius idea from our lead strategist, Rimushita," Nagase states sarcastically, putting a "you've got that right" smile on Patrick's face. Ignoring it, I turn on my ID, to see a pop up, obviously personalized for us, and only us.

"Welcome international students!  
As you know, this is our first year with the  
International Program. We've scouted the best students  
in countless different fields from across the world,  
and it seems you are one of them!  
For this special class, all of you are receiving the special  
"Super Duper High School Level" titles,  
and a free scholarship to our school.  
We hope to see you grow enormously from the  
talented person you already are!  
- Headmaster Naegi and Headmaster Kirigiri."

After the short twenty-second message disappears, my name is displayed on the screen. Then a school map, schedule, school rules, and a suspicious "evidence" tab menu appears under my name as it floats up to the top.

"What happened to the other students?" Chouko chokes on her words as she barely manages to get them out.  
"Simple… They died," Larsen says.  
"H-how?"  
"It would seem that we were not only scouted by the school, but by our kidnappers themselves… And disposed of the people they didn't need," Furi makes her words with no hesitation to think. She only pauses to let each phrase sink in. Next to her, Jui's smile changes to neutral. Perhaps the thought of losing her sister-? Oh how interesting. My thoughts seem to be confirmed as Jui weaves her fingers in between Furi's. A silence takes over us all as a few others start to take out their ElectroiDs, and read the message for themselves.

We all simultaneously click our touchscreens and pull up the rules, a list of seven, to be exact, with a warning at the top stating that if we do not follow the rules, we will face "punishment." Strangely enough, we end up reading the rules aloud.

"Rule 1. The students will live a communal lifestyle with no time limit inside the school walls," Hayazaki states, an intrigued air lingering in his words.  
"Rule 2. The time between 10pm and 7am is called'Night Time'. During Night Time there are places that are forbidden to enter, so please take care," Fusao continues.  
"3. Sleeping is only permitted in the personal rooms prepared for you in the dormitory area. Anyone intentionally falling asleep elsewhere will be punished. What a bore," I read.  
"Rule 4. You may investigate the school as you please. There are no special restrictions on your actions," Furi reads, unphased. "Rule 5. No violence is permitted against the school's headmaster, Monokuma. Destruction of the surveillance cameras is forbidden. Guess I'm lucky I didn't go any farther," Shizuri sighs.  
"R-Rule 6. A-a 'culp-prit' who k-kills a fel-llow student-t w-will g-graduate the school. However, t-they must n-not let a-any oth-ther student know th-they are the c-culprit," It takes Natasha a second to process what exactly she just read, when her face suddenly contorts slightly, showing her disgust in the rule. Shimizu drifts over to her and pats her back, telling her that'll be fine. But we all know that's a lie, even Shimizu herself. The thought finds it's way into my head and I don't even notice That Aika has started to read the final rule.  
"tional rules may be added by the school at any time," Thanks to my zoning out, that's all I catch of her rule, though it doesn't take too much effort to read the short "addi" part I missed at the beginning. Less so, infer it was there.  
"So what now?" Nakahara asks, tapping his foot.  
"We make a few rules of our own," I state.  
"What? Like what, exactly?" Hayazaki asks, his voice a bit nervous. But then again, whose isn't?  
"A self-imposed curfew. Simply to ensure that there is no paranoia."  
"What do you mean?" Larsen joins in on this asking of questions, showing some curiosity that I have not seen from her all say.  
"I'm afraid that if people are staying up all night, during this, 'Night Time,' worrying whether or not they'll make it to the morning, well, let's just say, lots of people will be sleepy. Nice and easy to corner and murder, seeing as they're in a weakened state. I believe for the interest of our mental health, that we are all to retreat to our rooms promptly at 10pm. We are not to leave our rooms until 7am. I can't exactly force you to sleep, but I would advise it... To watch out for any 'culprits.'"  
"Yet another excellent idea from Rimushita!" Nagase murmurs sarcastically, loud enough that I can hear him  
"Very well... And may I suggest that we have a morning meeting everyday, to check up on who's still alive, and well," Fusao speaks up for once today, other than his terrible introduction. Several heads nod in agreement.  
"So it's decided, a curfew and morning meeting everyday," Aika restates.  
"Does anyone have the time?" Nagai asks.  
"It was about seven when we got in here..." Chouko states.  
"Then let's check out our rooms... Give us some time to relax after this," Furi says.  
"We should investigate the school closer tomorrow, after the first morning meeting. Perhaps we should hold one tonight, though," Manuel suggests.  
"Why not? We'll get a chance to get acquainted some more. And perhaps someone could cook dinner," Shizuri says.  
"Well then, let's get going," I say.

We walk out of the gym together, but once we reach the dorms, as expected, we go our separate ways. I carefully pull out my ElectroiD and scan it on the pad on the right of the door. The door clicks and I take a look inside.

* * *

**Hello everybody! Have you all had a good week? Exciting news: Fanfiction has stopped censoring profanity I write, so now I can write without awkward stars! Well, I'll be doing intimate interactions soon, (Free Time... Just wanted to say it in a unique way...) maybe even one next chapter. So the poll is up on my profile, please go vote there for the next point of view, and review! Also, if you have a Free Time pair you would like to see, please leave it in the reviews. Also, if you do do that, I ask that you please leave a pair or two for the character you've voted (or will vote) for. Well, thank you for reading the second chapter! I will hopefully be back in a week! Also, I do apologize for any mistakes I've made in the first chapter.**


	4. Enemies Turn to Friends by Jui Hanaba

_Tonight will be fun! There's no need for worries when I've got my sister!_

I tell myself time after time, successfully cheering up the gloomy atmosphere. An extreme excitement comes over me, boosting my joy ten times further, as I watch Sis strip her bed of its blankets and pillow.

"Sis, this will not be a normal sleepover. Though it would be lovely to find some enjoyment, I must do this to ensure your safety," Sis's words hold the wisdom she's always carried when calming me down for a show. I can tell she sees it. The lies I am telling myself just to keep my joy up and about. Though she's always seen it, so I don't expect anything less from her truthful words.

As painful as they can be, Sis's words have always assured me with their complete honesty. It gives me a feeling that she has, and never will, told me a single lie.

The pile of blankets and a single pillow laid on the blue-ish carpet is topped by a single flat sheet. Slowly, my sister bends down to pick up to pile. I run over to the door to open it for her as she steps out of her dorm, placed in the hall closest to the cafeteria, on the left, if you are facing the cafeteria, that is. She turns and begins to walk towards my room as I step out and gently close the door behind me. It takes a short minute walk to my dorm, which just so happens to be the dorm placed in the corner that connects the hallway of the last few dorm rooms and the hallway containing a restroom for both boys and girls, and a _lovely_ trashroom.

When we arrive to my dorm, I takes moment to stare at the name plate placed on my door. "Hanaba," it reads, the only way of telling my room apart from Sis's is the 8-bit character, whose vest is colored in with black pixels on my plate, and blank for Sis's. I scan my ID against the scanner and the door clicks, signaling for someone to open it. I do so, letting Sis in as she drops her pile of bedding on the ground.

"Are you sure you don't want to take the bed?" I stare at her, hoping she'll say yes, and being the slightest bit selfish around me for once.

"This is your room. I am intruding enough by taking up this much of your space."

"It's not intruding! It's endurance of each other's safety!" I shout childishly. With no words left to say, Sis gets onto all fours to spread the flat sheet across the floor, then carefully lines the blankets on top perfectly. She places her pillow, nice and centered, then stands back up.

"The least we can do is switch every night," I say. Sis rolls her eyes and replies.

"Fine."

I walk over to the desk, and grab a piece of paper from the memo pad. Carefully, I write down a schedule, and when I've finished, I find a needle in a drawer and post it on the door. I turn back to Furi, who has picked up a key from the desk. It's probably the first key I've seen all day, and the only key I've seen for this building. At a normal school, you'd see teachers swinging their keys around as they rushed to the staff lounge for one last cup of coffee before the bell rang. Though seeing as I've only seen one room that requires a key, I can quickly guess where it goes to.

"It seems you've been put on for trash duty, Sis," Furi states.

It doesn't take long for the clock to reach eight-thirty pm, and that's when I realize we're fifteen minutes late for the evening meeting.

"Furi! We're late!" I shout it out to her as if we were back home, about to miss the bus. And Sis continues the act as if we were at home by giving me her usual reply:

"I know," she sighs as the tracks behind me, unenthusiastically. I rush down the halls, sprinting to make it to the cafeteria. The moment I step in, I understand why no one has come to grab me.

The room is quite empty. Only a few people are present, all sitting at the table. I count Shimizu, Nagai, Nagase, Rimushita, Manuel, Aika, Fusao, and Nakahara. I step in, and walk to the table.

"Presto! I'm here!" I raise my voice, breaking the awkward silence the room took when I stepped into the door.

"You're late. Any excuses?" Manuel teases me as I search for a seat near the pan of sweet-smelling bread centered between the group.

Just as I prepare to open my mouth to speak, Sis walks in.

"We had some business to attend to. Nothing worth worrying over," Sis walks over to the table, pulling a seat out and sitting down without taking the sweet bread into consideration. Seeing as I'm still standing, I take the empty seat between Sis and Fusao as Rimushita speaks up.

"I don't think it matters. Obviously no one else is showing up. Perhaps they're just too scared out of their wits," great annoyance and boredom spills out as he says those words. "We may as well start now," Rimushita pauses to take a moment to compose himself. "Have any of you taken a moment to investigate the rest of your tabs?"

"Hnn? You mean the thingies like 'evidence,' 'map,' and 'schedule?'" I poke my voice out, trying to participate in the discussion to make up for my tardiness.

"No, _Sweetpants,_" Nagase heavily accentuates on "Sweetpants," which actually bothers me quite a bit. "He meant the tabs as in the tabloids. Didn't you know we received those here?" Sarcasm flows from his words, striking me like a whack to the head.

"It seems you can't go five minutes without giving someone a hard time just to ruin our matters," Manuel counters him, coming to my rescue, but it's quickly ruined.

"I'm sure you would know it's fun. I get the feeling you may enjoy it as well."

"You're reflective feelings of fun would make for an excellent love story, where you two are bound together by the joys of hash and interrupting comments, but we've got a meeting here, in case you didn't know," Rimushita spits his words out, clearly annoyed.

"Fuck, who put you in charge? All you've had all day is bad ideas," I don't even have to look or listen to the voice to tell that it's Nagase. Ignoring him, Rimushita continued, changing his subject from tabs to Night Time.

"As I was in my room, I noticed there was a small... Tiny detail I over looked for my Night Time proposition," surprisingly enough, everyone is silent, letting him continue. "If we are locked away in our rooms, how are we to tell if someone is to sneak out?"

"I'm sure nobody would do that," Nagai whispers.

"Just like how a personal interview with Makoto Naegi himself stated he was sure **they** wouldn't kill each other."

"So what are you proposing, Rimushita?" Shimizu asks.

"Every night, we have three guards. If someone is to step out of their room, we are to stop them."

Just as Rimushita finishes his words, Shizuri steps out of the kitchen, scarfing down instant noodles out of a cup. _So much for someone cooking dinner... Sweet bread and a choice to step into the kitchen to make some noodles isn't much of a meal..._

"How's that supposed ta work?" Shizuri's words are slightly slurred as she slurps on the chicken broth of her microwaved ramen. It looks awfully good, I even find myself taking a moment to contemplate whether I should get some myself. But I don't want to miss out on the meeting, so I stretch my arm out to grab a piece of the remaining half of the sweet bread.

"The three people are stationed at each corner of the hall of the dormitory."

"I mean, why would we want to do that? Waste our precious night time, wide awake. Isn't that precisely why we're having this Night Time unofficial rule?" Shizuri takes a seat next to Nagai, who has no protests. I assume that they must have made up after that "Lolita-Bitch" mini episode.

"We all have a single motive... We all want to stay alive, correct? Well, if nobody leaves their rooms at night, the only other time we may kill is at day, out in the open. And for now, we're stuck on the first floor."

"So tell me one thin', worm: why do you try so hard with these suggestions? You're just as suspicious of everyone as us all."

"Haven't I already said? We all want to stay alive. That includes me."

"Mmmm..." Shizuri hums in agreement as noodles slither like snakes into her mouth.

"So Fusao, any chance you can give us some fortunes? I gotta know if I live! You can do that, right?" Nakahara's energy adds a boost to the room, especially because of his question.

"Wait, that's right! Your fortunes, they're 75% accurate!... Correct?" I find myself shouting in excitement.

"Fusao, if you can do that, that'd be amazing! We could change the future itself!" Aika is just excited as me, her words are overlapping mine as she bends over the table to get closer to him.

"If that is true, you may very well be our MVP," Manuel stays as composed as always as Fusao is bombarded with more and mor questions. It's obviously nervewracking to him as he begins to sweat. I can see he's trying to speak, but his words are too quiet to be heard over Nakahara, Shizuri, Aika and even Shimizu's silent interrogations.

It takes a few moments for them to notice it too, and when they do, they shut up for him to speak.

"I can try, but they may not be true... There's nothing that I'd hate than telling one of you you're going to die and sending you into paranoia."

"Fusao, you don't understand how important this is," even Rimushita's words are on the verge of desperation. "We can learn who's put us in here, what they plan to do to us. Just try."

"Very well," Fusao states. The room goes to silent as he closes his eyes, trying to focus. A silent excitement comes over us all as he begins to open his mouth to speak. Grins appear on all of our faces, but then something goes wrong. Instead of speaking, Fusao falls out of his chair and begins to scream. His screams pierce my ears as I stand up to rush to the boy, curled up on the floor. He has the appearance of a hurt child with his stature and wails. I make my way over to him as I am not sure of what to do.

"Uhhh... Uhhhh... Furiiiii," I whine. "What do I do?" I can feel the tears welling up in my eyes as fear takes over. Will Fusao become our first corpse? Laying here, crippled on the ground on the first night. Will he be doomed to have not even survived one day? Is it our fault for forcing him to this. More and more worries come into my mind as I sit there shaking, as I watch Fusao simply clutch his head and roar never-ending screams. I want to join in. I'm so scared, I could join him. In my fear, I don't even notice when Aika has appeared behind me. She taps me on the shoulder, signaling for me to move. When I do, she takes my place, though she walked over here in confidence, she sits and begins to shake like me and Fusao both.

With just a few stokes of his bare skin and checking his pulse, Aika speaks.

"He's in shock!" she shouts. I look at her, surprised. I'll admit I never would've expected a violinist to know better medical methods than me, in both identification and treatment. Immediately, she takes his scarf off and loosens the cape around his neck.

"Somebody get him a blanket from your room," she says. Aika is careful with her words, not to stumble. Though her eyes are streaming tears down her cheeks, she's strong.

"That'll take to long to get it out of its position off the bed. It'll take several minutes," I yell. Suddenly, I find Furi by my side. Her hand reaching for me when I realize what she wants. I pull my ElectoiD out of my pocket and drop it in her hand, at which point she bolts out of the cafeteria.

"We're going going to need to move him, aren't we?" Manuel asks rhetorically. To this we all comprehend what he means. I quickly and carefully search Fusao's pockets from his ID and I successfully find it. I throw it to Manuel, who takes Nagai, and Shimizu to Fusao's room to prepare his bed to lay him in for comfort.

"C'mon," Nakahara says as he pulls Rimushita and Nagase into the kitchen, to both of their dismay. Shizuri follows close behind, I assume to investigate.

"Is he going to be okay?" I ask Aika as she keeps a close eye on Fusao, who has stopped screaming only seconds ago.

"I don't know... I can only guess this is shock, I've never heard of a psychic doing something like this... Actually, I've never heard of what psychics do at all... I'm wondering if this happens everytime... And how he treats it."

"How do you know so much about how to treat shock?" I'm suddenly wishing that I can take back my question, I feel that it may be a little personal.

"It's just… Didn't you ever have a health class in school?"

"Oh..." I in fact did, I guess I never expected myself to be caught up in a situation in which I actually needed it and ended up simply dismissing it.

"Hnnnn... I don't know if I should do CPR or not..." Aika sighs, obviously her confusion takes over her confidence. I take a moment to observe Fusao's breathing.

"It's steady!" I say perkily.

"What?"

"His breathing."

"Okay."

We find ourselves sitting in the silence that becomes Fusao's heavy breathing. Luckily, this awkward silence lasts for only seconds as Sis comes back in, carrying in her blanket.

She unfolds the blanket as she walks over, then places it on the trembling Fusao. She flashes small smile to reassure me everything is going to be okay.

"We'll move him when he stops trembling," Furi states, face straight again.

It takes awhile, but he finally does. He's unconscious, thank god not dead, and his breathing has finally returned to normal. Because he's so small, I can lift him on my own with Sis spotting his head as we make our way to his room. I mainly ended up carrying him because Aika is so thin a fragile, with the exception of her strong fingers, so Aika end up following us to knock on the door, just in case I needed Sis's help in carrying Fusao after all.

We make it to Fusao's room, located next to mine, Aika does her knocking and it's Manuel who opens the door. I rush to the bed and lay him down, and when I do, Nagai and Shimizu each take a corner of the bed's blanket and carefully lay it on him. I hang his scarf and cape gracefully on the back of the chair by his desk.

"I'm betting this goes without saying, but who's going to keep watch on him tonight?" Manuel seems as calm as always, even for this dire situation.

"I will," Aika's words come with a strange sincerety.

"Very well," just then, there's a ringing at the door. This time, Nagai goes to the door and answers it with a short "Yes?"

Immediately Nakahara runs in and throws a thermos on the desk.

"Freakin' chicken soup!" He shouts. He bobs up and down in excitement, his feet occasionally hopping off the ground.

Rimushita comes in, and takes a minute to quietly obsererve Fusao.

"Nagase and Shizuri retreated for the evening," his voice carries a calmness as he continues to now observe the room.

"I'm assuming we should decide who does the night shift tonight now," Sis says, breaking the momentary silence.

"I'll do it," Rimushita says.

"I-I can go also," Shimizu chimes in.

"And I shall be the third person for this night," Manuel begins to walk out the door as he says his final words. "Well, we should get out there, you two."

Rimushita and Shimizu follow close behind out the door.

"You sure you'll be alright?" I ask Aika as soon as tonight's guards leave the room.

"Yeah, we've got the night guards and everything. It'll be fine... I guess all this means we can trust each other," Aika's smile grows and I turn away to walk out the room. On our way out, Furi picks up her blanket, laid messily on the floor.

On the hike back to our room, we pass Rimushita and Manuel, who are surveilling the dormitory entrance and first corner, respectively. It's Shizumi who's guarding the corner next to my room, and bares a smile as we approach her.

"Have a wonderful night! Please rest well to be safe!" Her words are gentle and kind as the lock clicks, and I open my door. I hold it for Sis and speak my final words of the night to Shimizu.  
"You too! I hope you don't get too tired!"

I immediately crash on the bed. The stress from today doesn't hit me until now, and it's as painful as being crushed by a rock... I think. I have this harsh feeling in my gut telling me to cry, and yet I don't. I want to keep smiling. The night fades away to the almost-silent sounds of Sis quietly rearranging her blanket onto her flat sheet.

* * *

**Hello! Lookie Here! I've got an early chapter!... That's probably good, considering how my deadline is friday and I'm participating in my school's Hunger Games simulation tomorrow... (I'm gonna die first. Just watch. T_T) I wouldn't get much time anyways...**

**Many thanks to Jin-Rimu for the night guard idea.**

**The poll is up, so go vote! This time it'll close after the first ten votes! So go get voting!**

**Any requests for Free Time? Because I am going to try one or two next chapter.**

**Please tell me what you think of the story so far in the reviews! I'll be back in a week or so with another chapter!**


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